THE ONE THAT WILL HAVE YOU UTTERLY BEWITCHED BY THE BALKANS, FROM SPLIT TO BUDAPEST.

Short on time? This is the trip for you. Hit up an incredible 6 countries in just one trip and take in the best sights the Balkans has to offer. Whether it's exploring the beautiful city of Dubrovnik, partying until the early hours in Belgrade or strolling around the historic sights Sarajevo has to offer, this trip has something for everyone.

WHAT YOU GET

15 nights accommodation

15 nights in Hotel

Live it up in hotels every night of the trip, one with a rooftop pool overlooking the sparkling Bay of Lapad in Dubrovnik. Sleep twin or triple share, or upgrade to your own room for a bit of extra cash.

21included Meals

15 Breakfast, 6 Dinner

Discover culinary delights you didn't even know existed as you sample the best of Eastern European cuisine. In addition to breakfast every day, you'll be treated to 6 dinners in our favourite local spots. Think hearty meals in Bosnia and tasty stew in Hungary.

Team

Expert Trip Manager, Driver and Local Guides

A highly trained Trip Manager who brings your adventure to life. An expert driver who knows foreign roads better than Google Maps. Local Guides who make tourist traps a thing of the past. This is your team. Smart, friendly, fun, and integral to everything we do.

Transport

All transport included during the trip

Included in your trip is transport across Europe on our fleet of comfy, state of the art coaches. They're kitted out with all the necessities: USB charge points, WiFi, Air Con and a rocking sound system. You bring the other essentials, like tunes, friendships and stories from the night before.

Your group

Travel with other 18-35 year olds from around the world

Our trips are exclusively 18-35. This means you'll be travelling with people just like you, from all over the world- laughter and friendships always guaranteed.

Experiences

12 included, 10 optional that you can add

We'll whirl you round to all the best bits of each destination we visit. Indulge in a spot of nature loving at the magnificent Plitvice Lakes National Park, learn about previously besieged Sarejevo with a walking tour of the city and experiment with goulash in a fun cooking class in Budapest.

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itinerary

Map

Itinerary

ITINERARY

Nights spent per location

1

1 night

Budapest

1

1 night

Ljubljana

1

1 night

Plitvice

1

1 night

Zadar

2

2 nights

Split

via

via

Bosnia & Herzegovina

2

2 nights

Dubrovnik

via

via

Kotor

2

2 nights

Budva

via

via

Mostar

2

2 nights

Sarajevo

1

1 night

Belgrade

2

2 nights

Budapest

+3 more

see detailed itinerary

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In-Depth Explorer

In-depth in one country or region

local experiences

Twin share hotels

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REVIEWS

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8 total reviews

4.8

32 independent reviews

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4.8

32 independent reviews

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Caitlin Hughes

Traveled Oct 2018

Best of Balkans

A fantastic trip! Bosnia was definitely the highlight of the trip!

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Anonymous

Traveled Oct 2018

Best of Balkans Tour with Tour Manager Ric

Loved the sites and beautiful countries but did not like how extremely rushed we always were. The accommodations were average to poor at times, in less than desired locations. The bus driver Alex was wonderful though!! So nice and friendly and helpful. Our tour manager, Ric, however was not. Quite unpleasant at times and a bit rude to some people on tour. Not approachable at all. Was honestly scared to ask him anything. He seemed quite annoyed with any type of question. He appeared quite burnt out honestly and that he no longer liked his job. Think the tour would've been much more enjoyable with another tour manager.

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Teyernan Butcher

Traveled Oct 2018

Time of my life

Best purchase of my life!

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Kim Chung

Traveled Sep 2018

Best of Balkans is a hidden gem you must experience!

I would highly recommend the Best of Balkans (Start Split) trip! It exceeded my expectations with beautiful sites, fun activities, history lessons, delicious fresh food, and wonderful locals. Plitvice Lakes will blow your mind and photos just don't do the place justice. Ric was an excellent tour manager and Alex was a legend coach driver and both made our trip fantastic! Our tour group was phenomenal and we can't wait to meet up again for mini-Contiki reunions! This is my third Contiki Tour and my husband's second tour. Thank you Contiki for another amazing trip!

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Monica Young

Traveled Sep 2018

Travelling with Contiki from now on!

I got to see the most beautiful places in such a short amount of time, most of which took me by complete surprise because I have to heard of them before. Close enough to each other that you didn't spend half of your time on the bus :) I would highly recommend Best of Balkans to anyone!

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Anonymous

Traveled Aug 2018

Fast paced fun tour

Overall I greatly enjoyed this tour. Both the tour guide and driver were knowledgable about the areas and helpful. This tour does move very fast at times and you have very limited down time and time to relax/ get ready for events. Doing this tour made me feel comfortable getting from place to place and getting through border crossings without stress. However, this is a never ending tour so people join at different points. This was kind of a bummer, I would have preferred to stay with the same group throughout the tour. Many of the travelers who got on in Budapest to go to Split were simply using it as a way to get to yacht week or sail Croatia and were a different group of travelers compared to those doing the whole Balkins tour.

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Emma Ibbotson

Traveled Aug 2018

Maximum adventure

Great locations and activities. Great pace and really made the most out of each and every day we had in this beautiful part of the world

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Anonymous

Traveled Aug 2018

The best travel experience in my life thus far!

The changes to some of the hotels - original hotels certainly had a higher "value" as compared to the replacement ones. Value here as in proximity to the main areas (e.g. Split & Budva).

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Anonymous

Traveled Aug 2018

Best was to explore the Balkans

Good value for money. Wouldn’t manage to arrange this myself!

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Anonymous

Traveled Aug 2018

Best of Balkans

Good although the downgrade from a 4 star to a 3 star in Montenegro made me feel a bit cheated out of my money

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Phyllis Lau

Traveled Aug 2018

Excellent trip around the Balkans!

4th Contiki tour... Absolutely no regrets.

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Lewis Jones

Traveled Jul 2018

Best of Balkans

This trip was great! You got to visit some of the more touristy areas of the Balkans, as well as getting to some more undiscovered areas like Sarajevo and Belgrade. Plenty of add-ons as well as a good amount of free time, and the people on my trip were heaps of fun!

The balkans were way more beautiful then I expected. This tour gives you the perfect amount of time in every place. It would be difficult to travel this area and get through all the boarders if traveling alone so I’m definitely glad I choose to do this trip with contiki, it was worry/stress free.

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Anonymous

Traveled Jun 2018

Trip of a lifetime

Best trip ever! The places we visited were amazing! Made so many memories and lifelong friends! Never thought I would ever visited this part of the world but I am so glad I did! Trip of a lifetime that I will remember forever.